Thinking like a nurse: The pedagogical power of process drama

We aim to empower nursing students to understand that their actions can positively contribute to health care, and to develop professionals who humanize the health workforce. We have designed simulation learning experiences using process drama, Mask-Ed (KRS Simulation). Participants are engaged in a series of structured improvisations emphasizing collaborative discovery and idea development. With no external audience, educator and students are simultaneously actors, directors, technicians and audience. The process builds skills of engagement, empathy and problem solving. Action periods are followed by reflection periods, and participants link the fictional world of the drama and their everyday reality. Educators carefully design and act as masked characters, using realistic props to simulate a person with a health care need whose life story promotes student engagement with issues exacerbating negative health outcomes. Mask-Ed builds clinical skills while sensitizing students to concepts such as the body in nursing and how to think like a nurse.